Didn't he live in Indonesia as a child? That should have made the world his oyster. I've heard tell that it's a much more significant qualification than having actual foreign policy experience and executive experience in running a large organization.

Was anyone expecting him to actually accomplish something? One second thought all of his presidential accomplishments to date run from the awful to the disastrous so perhaps its for the best that he accomplished nothing.

After the domestic policy disaster of the election, he thought he could retreat into the world of foreign affairs, where he would be accepted, but, aside from inking a deal with India, the groundwork of which that cowboy Dubya laid over the last decade, he was basically told by almost every country that matters that he doesn't know what he's doing and needs to listen to the grownups.

In retrospect, the sybaritic excess of yet another vaca for Michelle is just another level on which this jaunt is a failure.

kcom said...

Didn't he live in Indonesia as a child?

Sarah Palin got laughed at because she used a fishing agreement she'd negotiated with the Russians as proof she had a little foreign policy cred, but The Zero tells us how he's going to be great at foreign policy because he lived in Indonesia for 4 years (downplaying the fact he was between 6 and 10).

This was vital to our economic recovery plan. The QE2 will now be opposed by the G-20. If you look at Global Economics like Foreign Policy, America is now diplomatically isolated and on the precipice of a Trade War.

Nice Job Obama!

Well, it could have been worse. I didn't hear anything about him puking on anyone.

I'll take Bush puking on Kiichi over the Obama clusterfuck trip we just endured. Waste of time and money and only made things WORSE.

"Aren't these things supposed to be negotiated, and finalized, BEFORE the heads of state show up for the photo ops?"

That's what they do when they have some slue about what they're doing. Presidents don't just show up and hope things will fall into place. Normally the whole thing is done and they just show up, smile, shake hands (or kneel, bow and scrape in Obama's case) and pose for the cameras.

This was vital to our economic recovery plan. The QE2 will now be opposed by the G-20. If you look at Global Economics like Foreign Policy, America is now diplomatically isolated and on the precipice of a Trade War. "

A broken clock is right twice a day so theoretically it is possible Obama by accident instead of intent get something right on occasion. But expecting him to do something right purposefully is like the adage that states doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome each time is a definition of madness. He is what he is just like the scorpion in the parable. He can't help himself, its in his nature.

Of couse the G-20 are angry, they all have been guilty of devaluing their currencies in the past to promote exports and import substitution so they know the scam QE2 represents. Expect 4% inflation next year (if not more) along with negative interest rates on savings from the current DC brain trust.

looks Mr Obama does not understand the role of the fed chairman (chairperson for the feminists). Otherwise, he might have thought about discussing Bernanke's QEII prior to his trip abroad to discuss global financial issues. The man is much like the cartoonist Jules Feiffer depicted Jimmy Carter: shrinking every day and becoming less relevant. c

Been away from Althouse for a while. It is shocking to see how the comments are dominated by racists.

G. W. Bush of all people preferred O over McCain. We all got fooled. We got fooled not because O is a "diversity hire" - apparently something that the racists mutter at the water cooler when the recently hired African American makes a rookie mistake on the job, not that the racists at the water cooler could have done any better given the problems that the new guy is dealing with.

If O is fouling up because he is young and inexperienced, we have the testimony of W and millions of voters that McCain was a senile old coot who had not a clue about the economy.

Famous truism in Foreign Policy states that all countries respond to love for you or to fear of you. Nothing else matters. And they add that love is fickle. Only fear succeeds. The amazing Mr Obama has diligently removed all fear of the USA. The love for the USA has disappeared like a mist. Obama has screwed us up...and it is no accident. The first act for all Marxists is to destroy the power of the successful Capitalist nations.

cokaygne: I take your point with the "diversity hire" language, but I believe it is indisputable that Obama would not have been nominated or elected, given his resume, had he been a white politician. Granted he was pitted against a stunningly weak candidate, he nevertheless was given very little scrutiny and was embraced by many many people of good will precisely because he presented an opportunity to prove our belief that we have moved beyond race. He has disappointed profoundly and has many people using unfortunately harsh terms to describe their frustration.

Been away from Althouse for a while. It is shocking to see how the comments are dominated by racists.

G. W. Bush of all people preferred O over McCain. We all got fooled. We got fooled not because O is a "diversity hire" - apparently something that the racists mutter at the water cooler when the recently hired African American makes a rookie mistake on the job, not that the racists at the water cooler could have done any better given the problems that the new guy is dealing with.

If O is fouling up because he is young and inexperienced, we have the testimony of W and millions of voters that McCain was a senile old coot who had not a clue about the economy.

Actually Dubya said nothing of the kind - he was indicating that he he was being a good soldier, regardless of who was the nominee, but cockamamie and his friends need to console themselves however they can.

The real issue is that Presidents are supposed to be vetted and experienced enough that they don't "make rookie mistakes on the job". That's why the world is falling in on The Zero. He was and is unfit for the job and all the Alinskyizing in the world can't hide or misdirect it.

Have you ever noticed the parallels of O's presidency to an episode of The Office. The "boss" is a geek and everyone laughs at his delusional asshattery once he's left the room. The G20 attendees probably had a knee-slapping guffaw once he left the room.

This is that smart diplomacy the dems were telling us about. I could have sworn that the whole world hated America because of Bush being a cowboy and that once a dem was in office overseas politics would be a We Are The World Affair. Obama is starting to make Carter seem appealing.

As anyone who's read my comments on this and other fora for the nearly the last three years knows, I really do not care for Mr. Obama, and I especially detest most of his ideologically-driven policies.

He does, however, deserve credit in two particular areas. On his direct orders we are toasting tangos in northern Pakistan. Lots of 'em. And we're working closely with the French all across northern Africa to trash a bunch more of the bad guys.

In both cases he has had the sense to take a Bush policy and build on it.

Ditto for India, and that's where I disagree with other commenters here and elsewhere.ds

Bush's greatest legacy will be that he courted India into the Anglosphere. Obama has continued to build on Bush's beginning, and he (or his advisers) deserve considerable credit for that.

I only wish that whilst in Mumbai he had made a gift to the Indian Navy of our recently decommissioned last conventionally-powered aircraft carrier, Kitty Hawk.

The Obamas did just fine in India, and I do not like them one bit. Still, they advanced the strategic partnership that will eventually come to define the early 21st Century.

His visit to Indonesia, given his background, also could not possibly be spun as damaging America's interests.

All of the productive ones. But the Obama administration regards jobs in the bureaucracy that are supported by taxes as being superior to jobs in which people produce goods and services that citizens actually want and are willing to pay for.

I agree the South Korea treaty is Copenhagen all over again. Obama needs a tough negotiator to make these deals, oh I don't know, maybe a hard-nosed Secretary of State? Nixon was smart enough to get Kissinger. We got Chelsea's mother.

The Presidential pickings were slim as they usually are. Hillary's experience boiled down to being present when big things were happening. And of course, landing under enemy fire.

McCain was all about the Hail Mary. Picking Caribou Barbie to excite the base, suggesting suspending the campaign to deal with economic collapse, then merely sitting around the big boy table staring and blinking -- none of those gave much hope for a McCain presidency.